The Portland daily press., 1887-10-21
tLARoR AND THE TARIFF.
What Senator Frye Saw In a Trip
Through Italy,
AS Told to the Members of the Home
Market Club.
The Need of Protection Against
Europe's Starvation Wages.

| t-
BOSTON, Oct. Ex-senator Frye of Maine,
in the course of his speech at the Home Mar
| ket Clubs dinner last evening, said
"We have some wonderful advantages in
| this country of ours in this matter of manu.
featuring over any country saw, believe
over any other country in the wide world
In the first place we can feed billion more
men on our land than we feed today and do
no harm to us either. Then, again, We have
an enormous sea coast, and we have rivers
and lakes, which the Almighty planted just
| exactly right for us to use for our purposes,
to make cheap freights all over the country.
| And then, again, we have more railroads
| than all the rest of the world combined, and
today our freights are cheaper in the United
| States of America than in any country on
| this earth. On our through lines the freights
are not one-half today what they are on the
through lines in England That is great
| advantage"
Senator Frye spoke of the great natural
| advantages of the United States for manu.
featuring, and then queried why, with those
advantages, the imports for the year ending
| june 80 were so great, answering his query
| by saying that it was because in America we
were handicapped in the race by cheap labor
in Europe, and no other reason could be
| given. Labor was, he said the most import
ant factor of all in the matter of production,
| and the question as to whether or not there
was cheap labor in Europe was question
that must be met and must be understood by
men who legislated on the subject of pro-
tectiye tariff, or revenue reform, or whatever
| it might be called. He continued:
"Let me give you few Illustrations of
what saw, and they will be facts, not fan
cies. l will start with Italy. But we have
not much competition with Italy, why go
there?' Why, my friends, Italy is one of
| the coming powers of Europe today. Italy's
voice Is potent today and will be more
powerful as the years pass by Italy has
| 30,000,000 of people, and it has, in my judg-
| ment, the most sagacious man in all Europe
today, King Humbert. 1t has great navy.
1t Is reaching out for commerce in a way
| that this great American people never has
dared to reach out l went into cotton
| factory IN Italy, and great many people in
| the United States hardly know that Italy
| mas entered upon cotton manufacturing. But
King Humbe"t says: 1 have millions of
| people here in Italy without work, sleeping
| in the streets, AS | have seen them by the
scores and scores, and as some of you have,
men and women, lying down on the curb
stones sound asleep, with no homes, and
| King Humbert is SagaciOuS enough to say,
| If | am going to have a great Italy, a great
nation, must have it nation of workers
and of men who can live in homes with their
| families around them.' King Humbert is
doing everything in his power to build up
| Italy as manufacturing nation, and they
have commenced on cotton mills. The
| agent of the cotton mill happened to be
a German who could talk English enough
| for me to understand. | was fortunate. |
inquired about his operatives. He said they
were frst-class workmen. They did not
understand machinery very WELL but they
were good people to work. both men and
women. Well said |, what are the av-
esrage s.g wages yog pay in your cotton mill
about s4 week That was the old cry,
and / did not believe it. -Four dollars a
week, said l. 'Will you be kind enough to
tell me how yon make your average?' Yes
said he, 1 have to put about two
skilful men in each room, because
these Italians don't know much about ma
chlnery. and those men are Englishmen /
am obliged to pay them little better than
pay them about 81 or IS week | said.
What do you pay the rest?' Well said
he, L pay my women from 10 cents to IS and
20 cents day. pay my men from 35 to As
cents day.; And that is the way he got his
average. There were not a score of men
there who were working for 81 or S. a week,
not a score. That is true, as Mr.. Porter
knows. In England, Scotland, Ireland and
Germany, and everywhere you undertake to
find out wages, they will say. We pay from
So week up to SIS week. and you go
and hunt at the bottom and you will find
that they have got two men at S15 and 1000
at So. [Applause:J So that the great bulk,
the 80 out of 100 that worked in this cotton
mill, were at work for 20 cents day, for
| four out of five in the mill were women.
How will that be for competition when Italy
| gets 100 or 200 mills! Will you then look at
| Italy and make inquiries as to labor there?
Il went into quarry-not quarry, but
| where they were manufacturing the granite
| and the marble which had been quarried. /
| found that the average rate of wages of men
| was from 40 to 90 cents, the most skilled get
high price-S4 here for the same man. |
| asked my driver-I had hunted long while
| for driver who could talk English, and |
had found one who could talk little-what
he got, and he said he got 30 cents a day and
what little, ,nips, pour boires, strangers gave
him. A pour boire In Italy is about three
cents, should judge. [Laughter.] 1 went
out with him great many times, and
he always carried his dinner with him. Here
is the free traders cheap living. / asked
him three times to show me his dinner. and
he showed it to me. Every time it was mac
caroni and grease. Laughter and applause.l
He was happy, was not hep" says a free
trader. The happiest fellow l ever saw in
my life, but do you want your laboring men
and women to live on maccarOni and grease
and be happy: Laughter and applause.l l
went into the government lace factory
in Venice, and fortunately there | found a
man in charge who could talk English, and
he was very communicative, about the only
one found in all Europe who would answer
my questions when | asked them. | went
over the factory, which had been long estab-
lished He showed me first the work, and it
was superlatively magnificent, laces from
s. to $500 yard. | then went into the
workshop. There were, perhaps, 200 or 300
women and girls at work. | spent two or
three hours with him, looking over the con-
| Germ. finally settled upon one woman who
was doing remarkable piece of work. She
was apparently about 20 years Of age. She
| did not turn out to be but, l think 60.
| Laughter She was working at piece of
thread lace My recollection is that she was
using 200 bobbns at the time, and she was
moving them with such swiftness, speed
| that L could not see the bobbins, as they
moved, to distinguish them. "Why," said |,
mt. &c, that woman is very expert" He
this factory, and she has worked here forty
years" remembered it, SO | went round
| the room. then went into his office and
said "Will you be kind enough to show me
pleasure. have nothing to conceal He
showed me mis- pay roll. "Now," said /,
| point me out the name of the woman that
| saw working, who had worked here 40
| years. he pointed IT out How much do
| you suppose, at the most, that woman sue
ceeded in making day? Twelve cents, and
the average 1lA And the average women in
| the mill were getting 10 cents a day They
may go into cotton mill by and by. Then
| you will be interested in Massachusetts, even.
| Laughter and applause.l
| ~ Ou can go out there in Venice and hire
| gOndola that cost may be $500 or $3.50, and
| gondoler, elegantly dressed-four men can
| hire him and pay for the gondola and Condo
| ler for ten hours of hard work, 81. How
much does the gondOlier get of that dollar?
| The Lord knows; / could not find out
| Laughter That gondolier may be at work
in machine shop in Italy, presume, anoth-
er day, making machinery. These men are
as fine looking set of men as you can find.
| even in the United States of America, patri
otic, too. Why, look at that Italian armv of
100000 men. There is not an army in all
Europe, in my. opinion, superior to the Ital-
ian army today in its material. What do
they get? Two dollars a month. Laugh
ter. Well, what do you suppose they get in
Germany? Two dollars and half a month
in Germany, and a lieutenant gets the enor
nous sum of $50 year.
| That is the condition of wages In Europe.
You may go in Venice into one of the shops
where they make that beautiful jewelry-no.
go where | went, into shop where thev
made this magnificent Venetian glass, and
| YOU NAV take the paV-roll of the shnn and